


bye-bye, little butterfly

by theprimrosepath



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (aka: gee thanks toriitorii), Based on a Tumblr Post, Bittersweet Ending, Dad Adrien Agreste, Death in Childbirth, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Marinette dies at the very beginning, Short One Shot, Tragedy, single parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-07-23 13:21:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7464894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprimrosepath/pseuds/theprimrosepath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien has to relearn a world without Marinette in it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	bye-bye, little butterfly

**Author's Note:**

> translated into russian (русский) by @mmoonlightingg on tumblr [here](https://ficbook.net/readfic/5362750/13809660)!

Adrien’s newborn daughter is wailing in his ears as he kneels next to Marinette in her hospital bed, clasping her hand within his.

 

“Her blood pressure’s—”

 

“Shh, honey, I know you want your mother but—”

 

“—lemic shock, we need blood—”

 

“Please,” Adrien whispers, too soft to be audible to his own ears, much less Marinette’s, over their child’s bawling. His vision blurs with tears. He can’t tell if his wife is still looking at him. He begs, pleads.

 

_If there is a god, **please**._

 

_Please._

 

**. . .**

 

Adrien is sitting in a chair, alone. Around him, the maternity hospital still moves and still bustles, the people chatter and the world continues to spin.

 

_Mari…_

 

He holds his face in his hands. He can’t stop weeping.

 

It feels like the world has ended.

 

He can’t go to the nursery. He can’t look at his child.

 

He can’t.

 

**. . .**

 

Tikki and Plagg come to the decision that Tikki has to leave.

 

“I have to find a new Miraculous holder, Adrien. I’m sorry.”

 

Adrien nods in acceptance, feeling numb. It’s when he considers being Chat Noir beside a new Ladybug, however, that he finally feels something else - pure, unadulterated horror. To his core.

 

“It’s okay, Tikki. But then… I think I have to retire.”

 

Adrien never forgets seeing the two kwami, somber, waving goodbye to him. It’s the last time he ever sees them again.

 

**. . .**

 

It’s the second day that Adrien has come back home, which feels so empty now - and he can’t bear to go into his and Mari’s bedroom, he sleeps in the spare room they’d set up into a nursery with his daughter -  _she was standing and smiling and laughing in this room only three days ago, three days ago, how can she be **gone**?_ \- when his father visits.

 

“You have a beautiful daughter.”

 

Adrien can’t look at her without seeing Marinette. “Thank you.”

 

The silence is punctuated by the quiet breathing of Adrien’s sleeping daughter.

 

Gabriel’s eyes linger for a moment on the bed, which bears only the faintest semblance to being made. “Son,” he finally says, turning his eyes back to him.

 

“Yes, Father?”

 

“Marinette’s funeral is in two weeks, correct?”

 

Adrien swallows and smothers the fresh clench of grief in his gut. “Yes. The 20th. I - would’ve had it sooner but some of her relatives from China will be coming.”

 

“I see,” his father murmurs. “I’ll have to clear my schedule for that day.”

 

Adrien looks up in surprise.

 

Gabriel raises his eyebrows but is otherwise solemn. “She was my stepdaughter, Adrien,” he says gently. “And a promising fashion designer in my company as well. Of course I’m attending.”

 

“… Right.”

 

There’s another moment of silence - for all that Adrien has grown since teenhood, he and his father still struggle to have normal conversation.

 

“Adrien,” Gabriel finally says.

 

“Yes?”

 

“You are aware that you can talk to me.”

 

“… Yes.”

 

“I mean that,” his father says, looking straight at Adrien’s eyes. “Anytime you wish to call, I will be willing to listen.”

 

Adrien stares at him. He can’t help it. “But don’t you have a busy schedule?”

 

“I can make time.” Gabriel walks up to Adrien and pats him on the shoulder. “I have to go now for an appointment. You don’t need me to stay any longer, do you?”

 

Adrien shakes his head, baffled.

 

Gabriel nods. “Adrien. I know that losing a loved one is hard. But life continues. Be a good father. Your daughter needs you.”

 

Adrien swallows again. That’s the closest his father has ever gotten to admitting that he made a mistake. Seeing the solemn sympathy in Gabriel’s eyes reminds him of another funeral almost two decades ago, and suddenly the strange offers and advice feel less out-of-place.

 

It’s an understanding that Adrien once thought he would never have with his father - and to be honest, he would still give anything to not have it.

 

 _I won’t ruin my daughter’s life like that,_  Adrien decides, determination growing. _Mari wouldn’t want that. In fact, she would kick my ass for even thinking it._

 

_I won’t make his mistake._

 

**. . .**

 

On his daughter’s first birthday, Adrien’s heart simply falls apart. It’s early in the morning when he takes her to Tom’s and Sabine’s bakery.

 

“Could you please… watch her for the day? Give her a good birthday? I just…”

 

Sabine hugs him as Tom takes their drowsy granddaughter in his arms. “It’s all right, Adrien,” she whispers, his stepmother’s voice so full of understanding and love that Adrien’s eyes well with tears. When they pull away, he can see that Sabine’s eyes are a bit teary too.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

 

The bakery holds a special place in Adrien’s heart - it was the first place to truly feel like home. If it was any other day, he would’ve stayed.

 

“Thank you… so much, Maman. But I don’t think I can.”

 

Adrien spends the rest of the day strolling and running across Parisian rooftops, unconcerned by the prospect of tomorrow’s tabloid headlines. It’s nearly dusk when he takes the lift up to the Eiffel Tower’s third platform and leans against the fence to watch the sun set.

 

He feels painfully, hopelessly nostalgic. He misses the breeze he can remember always ruffling his hair, he and Mari ignoring the platforms in favor of perching on the highest, restricted girders. He misses that uniquely superhuman brand of disregard, that simple, youthful presence in the _now_ \- there, they lived among the stars, and they were the only people in the world.

 

But the view will never be the same. Adrien looks up - up, up, up, in search of the very top - and he thinks that he can see two ghosts, red and black memories dancing and laughing among the wrought iron girders.

 

Stars have filled the sky before he finally returns to the bakery.

 

**. . .**

 

“Papa?”

 

“Yes, my little lady?”

 

“Is it my fault?”

 

Adrien looks at his eight-year-old daughter, startled. “Your fault that what?”

 

She sits on the ground beside him, picking at the grass and slowly building a pile of torn-up blades and leaves of clover. She isn’t looking at him. “That you’re not happy.”

 

“Of course I’m happy!” To refute her, Adrien picks her up and swings her around onto his lap, grinning. “Why wouldn’t I be, with you?”

 

His daughter giggles, but she quickly becomes serious again. “You always go by yourself in your room after my birthday parties,” she finally says. “And sometimes I do something and you don’t look happy. You look sad.”

 

Adrien is quiet for a moment. Then, he says, “You just remind me of your mother sometimes, sweetheart.”

 

“You and Maman loved each other a lot, right?”

 

“Right.”

 

“Maman died when I was born.”

 

Adrien nods.

 

His daughter frowns down hard at her lap. “Do you hate me for taking Maman away?” she finally asks.

 

It takes a moment for Adrien, shocked by the question, to reply. “I promise I don’t,” he says, holding her by the shoulders. “I love you so much, sweetheart. It’s not your fault Maman died, I promise. I’m so sorry if I make you feel like that.”

 

With that said, Adrien hugs his daughter, and she hugs back. “Now then,” he says when he pulls away, “it’s about time to go visit your mémère and pépère. I think they have a surprise waiting for you.”

 

His daughter gasps. “Is it the weird cake again?”

 

“Well, we’ll just have to find out once we get there,” Adrien replies with a wink. He stands, hoisting her up with a grunt, and then grins and tosses her in the air once to her giggling delight. He walks with her in his arms to his car, chattering happily about whether Plagg, their cat, would also like a treat from the bakery. _Just like Father said,_ he thinks, _life continues on._

 

But then they get abruptly stuck in traffic, and Adrien can’t help but feel a twinge of loss when he sees the newest Ladybug and Chat Noir soar by.

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by [this post](https://toriitorii.tumblr.com/post/140075818156/au-where-marinette-died-during-child-birth-lays).
> 
> feel free to come find me at [my tumblr](https://primrose-path-of-dalliance.tumblr.com), where i post fandom things and the occasional bit of writing.


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